The youngsters not only accompanied, conducted and sung in the choir under the tutelage of Benjamin Nicholas, but they also played in a masterclass to Dame Gillian Weir, and had classes in improvisation and keyboard skills from Ronny Krippner and RCO Head of Student Development James Parsons. As Ronny put it: ‘I thoroughly enjoyed the sessions – there are clearly some seriously good players coming up!’.

As this course coincided with the last day of the Easter Course, those in attendance were able to join their peers for lunch in Balliol College with some staying on to swell the ranks of the choir at evensong at Keble College Chapel.

Overall, the students, tutors and parents all had a fantastic time with one student remarking: ‘It was great fun and has made me more motivated towards an organ scholarship. I particularly enjoyed playing the anthem: Parker Ramsay’s Evening Hymn is a fantastic piece, one that needs to be played, sung and heard more often’. 

We now look forward to the TOSE course – ‘The Organ Scholar Experience’ (24-29 July in Cambridge) and our second SYS day on 17 November, this time in London. Details of both can be found on the website.

For those who do not know the College, it has a large organ in its dining hall as well as in the chapel. Furthermore in the dining hall, our attending students were quick to spot the portrait of sometime Balliol organ scholar Edward Heath, a former RCO vice-president.

A current RCO vice-president, Dame Gillian Weir DBE, led the teaching team, performing a monumental recital on the new organ of Keble College as well as teaching six individual lessons on the day before the course began. As one student commented: ‘The opportunity for an individual lesson with Dame Gillian Weir was a fantastic experience; I don’t think that I am the only person to have said that they learnt more about playing the organ in that short space of time than in the rest of my organ playing career!’.

The feedback suggested that everyone else had an equally stimulating time:

‘Outstanding, lively and stimulating lessons, much helpful advice and friendly and encouraging teachers’.

‘All tutors were excellent and brought different styles and characters to the mix. The ability to address the key issues pertinent to the individual in practical sessions was very strong.  Theory sessions had been well prepared. A fantastic opportunity. Thank you!’.

 There are plenty more courses that we are sure will prove as popular as this one, so see our courses and events page for further information: http://www.rco.org.uk/education_college_events.php

It was great to watch the choir perform so well to the panel of distinguished judges (Russell Watson, David Grant and Suzi Digby) and wow them with their chosen inspirational song ‘‘Didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel?’ arranged by Paul Hart.

Tansy, who was awarded her FRCO in 2010, conducted a performance which judges described as ‘energetic’ and ‘vibrant’ with its multiple parts, swift tempo and intricate text, which really gave the choir an opportunity to demonstrate its technical agility.

The choir was absolutely thrilled with their achievement, particularly with such strong competition, with a previous winner and runner-up being in the semi-finals and finals respectively.

Since filming, the choir have now also won the senior section of the Barnardo’s National Choir Competition 2012, which makes them the only choir ever to have won both competitions in the same year of entry. What a splendid result!

After rehearsing separately in their schools and at regional rehearsals, the children came together for a final rehearsal and a wonderful performance of a diverse range of songs under the direction of Ronald Corp OBE, accompanied by SMA’s Christine Newman.

Supporting my talk about how the organ works was Eleanor Kornas, a student at nearby Chetham’s School of music, who received her ARCO at the recent Conferment Ceremony. Eleanor performed some organ music much to the enjoyment of the children and we were all thrilled she could attend.

The full details can be found in this press release , but suffice it to say here that the NPOR project represents a unique academic resource, and one which sits extremely well alongside the College’s existing scholarly and academic work.

If you haven’t already explored NPOR, why not visit the website at www.npor.org.uk for a look (or indeed a listen) around?

The whole cathedral was full to bursting with the family and friends of the 49 Members who were conferred with Fellowship of the College (FRCO), Associateship of the College (ARCO), Certificate of the College (CertRCO) or the Diploma in Choral Directing (DipCHD) – there’s a full list of successful candidates in the press release here, and as well as the selection of photos below there are more available for signed in members in our photo library here.

Capping an already memorable day was the award of first ever RCO Medals to three of the most distinguished figures in the musical world – Dr Francis Jackson CBE, Dr James MacMillan CBE and Sir David Willcocks CBE MC.

This new honorary award is presented in recognition of either distinguished service to the College or for distinguished achievement by an individual across one or more organ- and choral-related disciplines. As such it is hard to imagine three more deserving honarands, and it was fitting that their own music should feature so prominently.

Recitalist Daniel Cook opened the ceremony with a fanfare composed by Sir David, and then brought the formal proceedings to a close with an inspired programme including (alongside music by Mendelssohn, Bach and Parry) compositions by Drs MacMillan and Jackson.

A truly inspiring occasion, and one which will live long in the memory.

Our annual Sing! event (this year it was Sing Haydn!) proved as popular as ever, with more than 200 participants rehearsing and performing Haydn’s Nelson Mass in a single day under the expert direction of Adrian Lucas.

Accompanied by acclaimed performer Christian Wilson and four talented young soloists from the Royal College of Music (Hannah Sandison, soprano; Eleanor Minney, mezzo soprano; Matthew Long, tenor; and Edward Grint, baritone), the choristers enjoyed this amazing experience in the setting of one of London’s most famous and beautiful parish churches, St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge (top three photos below).

Meanwhile, developing their skills in front of the choir were participants in our Choral Directing Workshop, led by Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers David Hill in London’s wonderful Temple Church – see the bottom three photos above.

Oh, and if College Members would like to see more photos of these, and other, events, don’t forget you just need to sign in to visit the event photo library at http://www.rco.org.uk/education_events_photo_library.php

The full list of successful candidates can be found here, and we look forward to seeing many of them at the RCO Conferment at Southwark Cathedral on 10^th March, along with those Members who were successful in the Summer 2011 session.

Whether they have completed their Certificate, Associateship or Fellowship, or gained the Diploma in Choral Directing, each Member can be confident that their preparations and hard work have led them to an achievement of real merit.

The College’s examinations have long been held in high regard as a gold standard for confident, all-round  musicianship, and maintaining that reputation is the priority of everyone involved in the RCO’s work as a professional examining body.

Set Your Sights! is a new event offering elements of The Organ Scholar Experience (TOSE) course in a one-day package running from 09:45-18:15 on Saturday 14^th April in Oxford.

As with TOSE, the event is aimed principally at musicians of up to 19 years who may be thinking of applying (or have already applied) for an organ scholarship at a university, cathedral or church – or who are not yet sure about a scholarship but are keen to develop the general skills required of many organists (accompanying, conducting choirs and keyboard skills such as sight-reading, transposition, score-reading, harmonisation and improvisation). It will also be invaluable if you are considering taking an RCO examination.

The inaugural Set Your Sights! will make use of many of the wonderful instruments and facilities available in Oxford, allowing you to participate in classes on all of these key topics and in a masterclass on organ repertoire to be taught by legendary organists and former RCO President Dame Gillian Weir DBE. All for a cost of between £30 and £50 (depending on whether you’re a College member or not).

You can get more details by downloading the booking form here.

Oh, and if you can’t make the April event, we will also be running a second Set Your Sights! Day in London on Saturday 1th November.

The potential for Olympic activity to cause travel difficulties not just in London but across many areas of southern England made it prudent for us to schedule these popular annual events slightly differently to normal (a change which also means of course that participants will be free to enjoy the sport once our events are over!)

The upshot of all this is that the RCO St Giles Summer Course for Organists, our fantastic week-long event based in the City of London and open to musicians of virtually all ages and abilities, will this year be held between the 23rd and 28th July rather than running into the first week of August as in previous years.

The Organ Scholar Experience (TOSE), an event specificially designed for young organists preparing for or considering organ scholarships at universities, cathedrals and churches, will take place in Cambridge from 24th to 29th July, again avoiding that first week of August.

Both events are extremely popular, so if you are interested please do register your interest as soon as possible. Click these links to find details on the RCO St Giles Summer Course for Organists and The Organ Scholar Experience.